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Feeling Underpaid and taken advantage of

I am so very sorry for the long post, however I need some advice. I am a grooming apprentice and I have 20 years experience as groomers assistant. My job duties are as follows.
Book appointments
Check out clients
Sanitary clips
Ear plucking
Trimming nails
Anal gland expression
Bathing
Drying
brushing
Rough cutting before baths
Hair cut after baths
Some scissoring
Shop clean up
Basically, I manage and run the salon myself.
The “groomer”/owner finishes each dog which only takes her about 5-15 min per dog to finish because I do just about the entire cut. Then she goes home and leaves me at the salon to check out the clients. I am only getting paid $12.00 per hour and I think that for the amount of work I do, I am not getting paid enough. Theoretically we average 8 dogs per day and only work 8am till 2 pm 2-4 days per week. She charges between $ 70.00 and $ 90.00 per dog
I have worked for her on and off since 1991 and she used to work 5 days per week and longer hours. Also, minimum wage here in New York is 11.10 per hour.
In 2001, I opened a dog grooming salon and it was successful for 1 year. I closed it due to a divorce. Fast forward to today, I am back with the groomer I worked on and off for. She is burnt out and does not want to work anymore. Her business and grooming ethics are not acceptable to me. She charges clients for services that she does not preform, such as teeth brushing, flea baths and medicated baths. She grooms cats and charges the client between $90 and $120 and does not even bathe the cat. She just cuts the cats hair puts perfume on it waits 2 hours then calls the client.
She wants to sell me the business with no money down and all I have to do is make payments to her.
My hand scissoring skills are a little rough. She is not really training me to improve my hand scissoring skills because she is burnt out, has no patience and just wants to go home.
She feels that I am not ready to own her salon because of my hand scissoring skills. However, I feel I am more than ready and that she is just not serious about selling me the shop. Her operating costs are low because she uses cheap dollar store shampoo and the rent is only $1,400 per month.
My question is, I feel that I am not getting paid enough and taken advantage of. What is everyones opinions on my hourly rate of pay and structure of pay. ie, should I get paid per dog, a percentage or hourly.
Any advice is greatly appreciated

I'm certain your scissoring is sufficient! if she is only taking 5 mins to 15 mins per dog after you've done what you've done, that's just a small to low moderate amount of scissoring which I'm certain by now you could do! It's just a little more time. Doesn't sound like you have much bargaining power as far as pay goes as she just wants out. Buy the shop if you know the clientele and it's a fair deal, just get it in a contract. Don't fall for her telling you that you need her help once it's sold, make it in that contract that she exits immediately. Don't fall for her working for 100% commission because she is teaching you. Sounds to me like she just wanted to keep you under her thumb by knocking your confidence.

I’m a little skeptical about buying her business because of her unethical business practices. At one point your business was very lucrative and she was working five days per week from 9 to 5. Now I would say about 25 to 30% of customers have not been there in over year and she barely has enough work for part-time work . We work 2 to 4 days per week usually from 8 AM until 2 PM grooming from 6 to 8 dogs per day. Also with her unethical business practices if I would buy her salon she would likely open up another salon somewhere in the area. And I seriously doubt she would sign a no compete clause . So I guess I just answered my own question

Ok, this may seem harsh, but I'm really scratching my head on why you went back? That being said, she's the boss. As long as she is meeting state labor laws, she could ask you to do all that and pay you minimum wage for it. If you agree to it, you agreed to it. That is all something that should be negotiated at the interview to decide if you are going to be a good match for them and them for you. As far as buying the place, I would do some research first. Confirm her rent, what the business is bringing in, a number of clients on the list, what equipment comes with the deal and what it's depreciated value is, etc, etc. If you had your own business before then you know all this and how to run a shop. No need for her help afterward, unless she want's to work as your employee! Other than that, once you purchase the shop it's yours to run how you wish. You may lose some clients during the transition but most will probably see the difference between how the place is run and stay. Good luck with whatever you decide and let us know how it works out for you.

It's not what you look at that matters; it's what you see.
Henry David Thoreau